Welcome to the crafty corner of my life! See the newest items added to my Etsy shop, watch I go on craft show adventures, see my craft room / play room come to life, and stay up to date with Close to my Heart.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Welcome to the June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! Close to my Heart has designed a VERY cute stamp set for the month of June, it is called "Life is Tweet"! If you came here from Jen Patrick's Blog, "Roxybonds", then you are on the right path. The Blog Hop is like a great big circle, so you can start here and hop your way around. If you get lost along the way you can find a complete list of participants here.

I had so much fun working with this stamp set! I know you will too. Hope you enjoy what I have created and find some ideas you might want to make your own.

I created this 2 pages scrapbook layout using this month's stamp set. I love that the sentiments are good for many different occasions and the birds and flowers are so cute!

I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the scallop square shape at the size indicated on the carrier sheet. Then I trimmed my stamped image so that I could layer it and added left over sparkles from my Lucy kit.

I had a lot of fun with this funny tall bird. I did some layering and paper piecing. I used the liquid applique and heat gun to add some poofy trim around the birthday hat.

I used the Art Philosophy Cartridge to cut out the flower shape that matches the petal swirl pattern. I layered that with the circle shape from the center of the same stamp. I created a stem with the color ready ribbon and made a leaf with a ribbon loop.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Another artwork preview using the "Victory" workshop on the go kit from Close to my Heart! The sketch I used for this 2 page scrapbook layout is from the Heart 2 Heart Chaellenge Blog.

This sketch caught my eye as the perfect layout to showcase the papers I love in this kit.

I changed the layout slightly to accommodate the photos that I wanted to use. One the first page, instead of three vertical photos I used 2 horizontal photos.

I added a title using the Urban Felt Alphabet. I LOVE these adhesive backed felt letters! They are so easy!

I used the edge distresser tool to shred the edges of the barnwood red cardstock I used as a photo mat.

I used the corrugated cardboard star shapes as accents. I flipped one corrugated side up and the other smooth side up to create texture. I purchased these from the bulk items that consultants have access to. If you are coming to my workshop I will provide these for you to use.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

My friend Kathi will be hosting the Victory workshop for June. I was able to create this 2 page scrapbook layout with her in mind. She loves this kit from Close to my Heart, but she also LOVES to use lots of photos in her layouts. This layout contains space for 10 photos! (should fit the bill) :)

Based on sketch by Cheryl Even

I created this layout based on sketch inspiration I found on a blog called: "Even More Scrapping". Cheryl Even created this sketch. I had a lot of fun working with it and was so excited to fit so many photos into it! I modified it slightly so that the large photo is a 4x6 instead of a 5x7, just because I didn't have a 5x7 on hand.

The photos in the "grid" are horizontal 4x3s. You will need 9 of them. What I love about the Close to my Heart double sided papers is that if you would like to flip the papers over you can and it will still look good. The other side of the brown papers is blue, so feel free to flip your papers over if you like when you create this layout.

I created the title with the "Urban Felt Alphabet" and accented it with Dimensional Studs. The Urban Felt Alphabet is a set of adhesive backed felt letters that are easy to peel and stick. It is the same font as the Urban Alphabet Stamp Set. If you own that you could mix and match these letters with stamped ones in your titles.

I love the zip strips that are on the papers in the workshop on the go kits. Victory has a set of strips that are words. You can pick the words that coordinate with the theme of the photos you are using and place them into your layout as accents. I placed this one under my main large photo and three others along the right hand side of the right page.

Monday, May 28, 2012

The Lucy workshop on the go kit from Close to my Heart is not ONLY perfect for girly princess layouts... you can also create a very masculine layout with those same supplies. The 4th layout I created with my kit had this in mind.

Imagine: Subtitles

The design is "Subtitles", from the Imagine How-to book.

I used the Grey Wool card stock as bases. The newsprint and green honeycomb patterned paper is a great masculine combination. I used Sweet Leaf green for photo bases.

The stamp set includes this quote: "a person's a person, no matter how small" from Dr. Suess. I feel in love with this stamp set when I saw that! Then I instantly had the idea that I would use it to create layouts for my children's albums with their ultrasound photos! So, these pages will be used for my Son's. I added a little hand tied bow of grey wool baker's twine to anchor the stamped sentiment piece. I used the clear acrylic to hold the shape of the bow tales in place.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

"Victory!" This exclusive scrapbooking kit from Close to my Heart will be our focus as my next workshop/class at the end of June. I will be teaching you how to use the edge distressing tool, which makes any of the papers in this kit instantly appear to be tattered or torn fabric!

Victory Layout #3: Photos: 1 V 4x6, 2 H 4x6, 4 Square 3x3

The design for this layout is from the How-to Book titled "Imagine". The layout is called "Sweet Symphony". I used the Chocolate card stock for bases.

I used the top square on the first page for a small stamped title area. I added the Durables Square Studs as accents that looks as if they are holding it in place.

The edge distressing tool makes adding distressed texture to paper and card stocks easy AND safe! The blades of the tool are down inside the circle disk and not exposed to areas where your hands hold it. You simple put the edge of your paper in one of the blade areas and go back and forth until it is the desired roughness. You can do a little or a lot. I think it makes the edges of the patterned papers look almost like canvas!

I am very excited about how simple and effective this effect is on my layouts! I entered this layout in the Heart 2 Heart Blog Distressing Challenge. Visit the blog challenge to see what other Close to my Heart consultants and customers have created with a distressing technique!

The technique I used was emboss resist. I stamped my stamp with clear embossing ink onto my white card. Then I dusted it with clear embossing powder and tapped off the extra. Then heated it with my head gun. It is a pretty cool looking embossed image at that point, but I wanted more contrast, so I continued on. I added gypsy (purple), smoothie (pink), and sunset (orange) with my sponge. I inked up my sponge and placed it against my embossed area then drug it off the card and let it fade as I went. I repeated this until I got the desired effect I was going for. I was careful to position my starting point with the sponge UNDER where the sentiment band would cover it up because this area was darker then I wanted for my finished look.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month
Blog Hop! This month we are featuring
"Friendship Bouquet", a set of 8 stamps.
If you have come here from Carla's Blog, "Carla Creates", you are on the right
path! (wasn't her set of cards so cute!?) The blog hop is a great big
circle, so you can start here and work your way around. If you get lost along the way, you'll find
the complete list of participating consultant's HERE .

"Friendship Bouquet" May 2012 Stamp of the Month, Set of 8 stamps!

I created this beautiful 2 page layout with my May Stamp of the Month. I had been holding onto these photos of my daughter with the sunflower she grew for me in pre-school. She was so proud of it and I wanted to create a very special scrapbook page for it. When I saw this stamp set I knew instantly it was a perfect match!

I used paper piecing with this stamp set. I stamped the flower with chocolate ink onto yellow cardstock. For the leaves I stamped them in green onto green, then trimmed it all out with my micro-tip scissors. I used glitz gel in bronze for the center of the flower. I made sure to spread it on uneven on purpose so that there was more gel on the areas that were the darkest in the stamp design.

I trimmed out a drawing my daughter had done of a sunflower and used it as one of the accents in the layout.

I used one of the sophia journaling pieces to write my journaling on. I left the edge ripped from the spiral it came on to add texture to the page. I wrote it as a note to her from me to read each time she opens her album.

Hope you have enjoyed looking over my project!

We have over 50 consultants
participating in the hop. Following the hop is easy, just click on the link at
the end of the post and it will hop you right over to the next blog!

Don't
you just love this stamp? Remember, you can only get it during the
month of May! With a $50 purchase you can get this set for just $5. Visit my website to see more details and purchase it from me online! www.heatherjane.ctmh.com